


A Pure Bread Horse

by Revieloutionne



Category: Kamen Rider 555
Genre: Bakery AU, M/M, everyone is happy au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 00:03:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6172057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revieloutionne/pseuds/Revieloutionne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With the restaurant across from the cleaners moving out and a handsome young baker moving in, Takumi's life is far more frustrating than it was before</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Pure Bread Horse

**Author's Note:**

> Written for starcicle on tumblr for the February Kamen Rider/Super Sentai exchange

Takumi didn't pay much attention to the restaurant across from the cleaners. The first time he visited, shortly after moving in, the food came to the table too hot and he complained. The second time he visited he could swear the food came even hotter. He never made a third visit.

For a while he would notice the smells of the food cooking that made it across the street, but it didn't take long for them to blend into the background. Sometimes he would take note of someone entering or leaving the place but for the most part after that second visit he had no reason to ever think about the restaurant itself.

The restaurant was _such_ a blank space in his mind that he was almost surprised he'd noticed the crowd of trucks and vans being loaded with furniture and kitchen equipment in front of it.

“Oi! Mari!” he yelled to the living room from the front counter. “What's going on across the way?”

“They went out of business,” she replied, not looking up from her work. “It's a shame. Their ramen wasn't the _best_ , but it was good and right there.”

“Any restaurant that serves food as hot as they did _deserves_ to go out of business.”

“Mhm. Whatever you say, Takumi.”

***

When the trucks were still there a week later, Takumi figured something strange was going on.

“Hey,” he said to Keitaro as he returned from a delivery, “did they really have that much stuff in there?”

Keitaro gave him a disappointed look from the counter. “Those vans are  _un_ loading. The place sold immediately and the new shop's moving in already, don't you pay attention when I'm talking?”

“No, not really.”

***

The next time Takumi thought about the place across the road was after a young man on the street with slicked-back hair handed him a flier for some grand opening somewhere. Normally he refused fliers but his hand stopped halfway to a silent “sorry” gesture when he caught sight of the young man's smile. It was... Well, it was distracting, for one thing, and while he stood making lord knows what kind of ridiculous face, the young man placed a flier in his hand and he grabbed it reflexively. Thankfully that snapped him out of his daze and he was able to move along before making  _too_ much of a fool of himself, but he still muttered about it all the way home.

“Honestly,” he groused, “who hires someone that good-looking just to hand out fliers? And he wasn't _that_ good-looking anyway, he just has a really nice smile. And eyes. But his hair is horrible! Looked like he borrowed that suit, too, it didn't fit him at all...”

He realized just before making the last turn home that he was still holding the flier and went to pitch it in the next trash can he passed, but stopped when he caught sight of the little map in the bottom corner showing familiar intersections and an aggravatingly placed star. A little note next to the map read “Across the street from Kikuchi Cleaners!” What  _was_ this store, anyway? Takumi hadn't actually heard anything the young man had said. Starting back from the top of the flier, Takumi read about the bakery that would undoubtedly be bringing annoying crowds to the storefront across the way: Smart Grain.

At least that guy with the fliers was probably lent out by some marketer and didn't actually work there.

***

The guy with the fliers owned the bakery.

He'd stopped by the cleaners to introduce himself, and now Keitaro and Mari were making fun of Takumi for making moon eyes at him. Moon eyes! Like he was a middle-school kid with a crush.

Sure, he'd noticed the casual clothes Kiba showed up in looked (and fit) a lot better than the suit he'd been in before, but he wasn't sure how “you didn't even  _say_ anything!” was meant to be proof he wasn't behaving normally around this guy. He barely talked to those two sometimes and he  _lived_ with them!

He had to sneak out the door while they were busy in order to check out the bakery so they wouldn't embarrass him while he was there. He was only there because he needed to see if the food literally across the street from his home was any good. He wasn't going to pass it up if it was. He definitely wasn't here for any reason related to how good-looking the owner might or might not be, no matter what his friends thought.

It would help if he had any idea what all these kinds of bread were. Kiba was helping someone else and Takumi wouldn't dare interrupt. There was an employee refilling trays of bread, but he was jittery and self-distracting and Takumi was pretty sure he was hired as a favor and doubted how helpful he'd be. The girl he could see back at the ovens seemed on top of things, but before he tried getting her attention, one of the trays got stuck and Takumi decided it was probably ideal for her surprisingly violent problem-solving to stay away from him for the time being.

Kiba had probably noticed him floundering while still helping the other customer, because as soon as she paid, Kiba crossed the floor and started asking questions about what Takumi liked, eventually settling one of the larger rolls (or one of the smaller loaves?) and bagging it up for him.

Takumi was here to see if the goods were  _good_ , so as soon as he paid, he pulled the roll-loaf out of the bag and took a bite. There was a definite crust, but it wasn't hard, and quickly gave way to the fluffiest bread Takumi had ever eaten in his life. It had a sweetness to it without  _being_ sweet, and somehow the flavor and texture of it made him feel like it was warming him inside even though it was absolutely at room-temperature. He went to take another bite but stopped when he noticed Kiba laughing.

“I'm sorry,” Kiba said, “I don't mean to be rude at all, I just... You're supposed to make sandwiches with that one?”

The only option here, as far as Takumi was concerned, was to double down. He shrugged. “S'good bread,” he said, around the loaf-roll in his mouth, before leaving the store, definitely not thinking about the way Kiba's eyes turned up as he laughed.

***

Something about the view out his bedroom window had been bothering Takumi ever since the delivery vans had left and Smart Grain began preparing to open, but it wasn't until he was at his closet undressing for bed that night that he realized what it was and why it didn't bother him during the day.

There was a light on in the window of the tiny second floor above the storefront that apparently had living space the prior owners never used.

He hastily pulled on underwear and nearly tripped as he rushed to shut his curtains, but of  _course_ Kiba was standing at his window, no doubt staring. His face was too much in shadow for Takumi to read his expression, but he could  _feel_ it when they made eye contact and dropped to the floor, cursing his luck.

***

Takumi couldn't even get mad at Mari and Keitaro for intervening the next day. Well, he could, and did, but he knew they were right to. He'd tried walking to the bakery at least five times and was chickening out before even getting out the door. He needed help. (They were still busybodies who should have waited for him to ask.)

“Look, you just need to go over there and buy something and see how he behaves,” Mari said. “Maybe he'll be mad about it and it'll suck, but you'll know. Maybe he'll pretend it didn't happen, which sucks because it doesn't tell you if he's mad or appreciative or what, but at least he's being polite about it. If he jokes about it then you know it's not actually a big deal or anything! But if you don't go, then you're just going to sit and stew about the unknown. The unknown that there are answers to _right across the street_.”

“But-” Takumi started.

“And maybe he'll flirt with you about it!” Keitaro added.

“He won't,” Takumi said.

“Well you know he was here the other day asking about y-”

“Keitaro!” Mari chided

“-laundry? About laundry. I don't know why I said that it has nothing to do with anything.”

“Have you _ever_ given useful advice?” Takumi asked.

“ _I_ have,” Mari said. “Now go!”

Takumi didn't go.

“I will push you myself if I have to and you know it.”

Takumi went.

***

Takumi stood at the window, looking into the – of course – super busy store.

***

Takumi held the door open for customers for a good five minutes, and that was definitely the reason he hadn't gone in yet. Being nice to strangers. That was the reason.

***

Smart Grain had nearly cleared out by the time he actually walked in, which at least let Takumi pretend he hadn't been wasting time. The fidgety one started heading his way, which was not so positive.

“Hang on, Kaidou,” Kiba said, “I'll get Takumi, he's a friend. How about you help the kid by the melon bread?” A friend, he said. Takumi was pretty sure he wouldn't say that if he was upset by last night's... display. “What can I do for you?”

Takumi had not planned this far. “...Same as last time?”

“Good choice!” Kiba said. “There's some coming out of the oven in about five minutes; it's so much better hot if you want to wait.”

“I'll take one from the case,” Takumi said.

“What if I insist?” Kiba said, grinning.

“What if you just sell me the bread I want?” Takumi asked. “That's your job, isn't it?”

“Wow. Has anyone ever told you you're stubborn?”

“I'm not _stubborn_ , Kiba,” Takumi almost-shouted, “I just want the bread in the case! Why is that so difficult?”

Kiba stared at him a moment, his posture deflating. “Do you... not like me?”

“What?” Takumi asked, wondering how he'd given such a wrong impression.

“I said you could call me Yuuji, you're shutting down my flirting, and I thought last night you were embarrassed and it was cute but if you were actually mad I'm sorry. I didn't realize your window was there until just before you-”

“When did you say I could call you Yuuji?”

“ _Weeks_ ago, when I first stopped by the cleaners!”

“...oh.” Takumi decided to just go for broke. “I didn't actually catch much of what you said then. You're really handsome and I- _what do you mean you were flirting_?”

“Exactly what I said,” Yuuji said. “I'm not sure how you missed it.”

“He's not great with people,” Mari said from the doorway.

“He does fine with _persons_ though!” Keitaro piped up from behind her. “Well, he's not always _great_ , and- Oh I mean like one-on-”

“I understood,” Yuuji said, smiling.

“As long as the persons he's with are fine with grumpiness, at least,” Keitaro added.

“I'm not-!” Takumi said.

“You are,” Yuuji said, “but I like it. You're passionate, and I don't have to worry about you pretending you aren't upset. I'd much rather date someone who'll let me know I've screwed up right away after my last relationship.”

“Your last...?” Takumi fretted

“Not important. It's over,” Yuuji said, “which is good for a few reasons but the big one is that lets me ask you to dinner tonight?”

“I could do that.”

“Ask yourself to dinner?” Yuuji laughed.

“I could,” Takumi said, “but I'm already seeing this really handsome baker.”

“Handsome, is he?”

“Well, his face is good. His hair is kind of a disaster.”

“I TOLD YOU!” Kaidou shouted, before shuffling away from everyone's stares.

“Pick me up after you close?” Takumi asked.

“I'm looking forward to- hang on you aren't getting away with a distraction. What's wrong with my hair?”

“Maybe 'disaster' is a stronger word than necessary,” Takumi said, “but you'd look better if you let it just hang naturally, I bet.”

“Do you.”

“Works for me,” Takumi shrugged.

“Well, we'll see tonight then,” Yuuji said. “If you're wrong I get free laundry.”

“If I'm right?” Takumi asked.

“I'll let you decide,” Yuuji said with a wink.

“Oh my god,” Mari said, “I'm going to have to set a curfew.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this entire fic so I could name the bakery Smart Grain


End file.
